In many types of equipment from laundry machines to metal forming apparatus an essential part is a pair of oppositely rotating pressure rollers with parallel axes and peripheral surfaces which define between them a gripping and contact gap in which articles are gripped by the rollers and urged forwardly between them in order to exert pressure on the articles. There is a fundamental danger in this type of apparatus in that foreign articles are gripped, pressed and propelled forwardly between the rollers in the same manner as the intended articles. This can be dangerous if a worker should happen to get a portion of his body such as a hand accidentally inserted between the pressure rollers.
In the safety device of this invention there are provided a pair of counterrotating rollers that are located forwardly of the pressure rollers and that are spaced apart so as to engage the foreign article before it can reach the pressure rollers and project it rearwardly away from the pressure rollers.
The prior art known to the applicant at the time of filing this application consists of U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,081,380; 1,148,133; 1,240,751; 1,883,258; 1,915,702; 2,163,473 and 3,498,217.